Eric Garner’s death: Where the case stands

In the two years since Eric Garner was killed in a suspected chokehold by police on Staten Island, the Black Lives Matter movement has gained national attention and influence.

Garner’s death — killed as he sold loose cigarettes on July 17, 2014 and captured on video — helped spark a nationwide discussion on police force and tactics.

Garner’s dying words of “I can’t breathe” became a rallying cry many protesters chant to this day. His death has forged both political change (the state attorney general now has the ability to take over any investigation where an unarmed civilian is killed by police) and demonstrated the importance of catching incidents on film (the NYPD is preparing to expand its body camera pilot program).

Here’s an update on the people involved in Garner’s death, the investigation and Garner’s family.

Daniel Pantaleo

The cop who stood accused of placing Garner in a chokehold, which is against the NYPD’s policy, isn’t out of the woods. While Pantaleo was not indicted in Staten Island, he still faces federal civil rights charges. He remains on modified duty and has yet to face departmental review, police said.

Dan Donovan

The former Staten Island district attorney moved on from his post in May 2015 when he was elected to Congress following a special election. He took over Michael Grimm’s seat after Grimm was forced to resign following a federal investigation into his campaign finances and businesses. Grimm was later sentenced to eight months in prison for felony tax evasion.

Donovan, who grew up on Staten Island and spent 12 years as the DA, convened a special grand jury that voted not to indict Pantaleo in Garner’s death.

The Garner family

Esaw Garner lit a remembrance candle on the anniversary of Garner's death, as she did on the first anniversary, but the stalls in the federal investigation have left her tired, according to a New York Times profile.

Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, has remained politically active in the two years since her son’s death. Carr was a vocal supporter of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s July 2015 executive order that gave the state attorney general the ability to take over any case in which a law enforcement officer kills an unarmed civilian. So far this year, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has taken over six statewide cases, including the shooting of a Brooklyn man by an off-duty cop sitting in his car.

And in July, Carr stood with politicians and the mother of Ramarley Graham — the unarmed teen killed by a police officer in the Bronx — to condemn a decision by the City Council speaker to not vote on a pair of NYPD reform bills in exchange for internal policy adjustments by the department.

Ramsey Orta

Garner’s death was one of the first to be caught on video and uploaded on the internet for all to see. It quickly went viral, and set the case apart from other high-profile deaths where police and witness accounts had to be dissected.

Since then, Orta has faced legal trouble and reportedly argued that he became a target for cops on Staten Island. In July, he pleaded guilty to drugs and weapons charges.

State charges

A special grand jury was convened in Staten Island to examine the evidence, but in December 2014 ultimately decided not to indict Pantaleo. It deliberated for nine weeks, heard testimony from 50 witnesses, and viewed 60 exhibits.

In February 2015, several attorneys, including a lawyer for the city’s public advocate, pressed to unseal the grand jury records in the case, arguing the minutes could help to reform the criminal justice system. But in March 2015, a Staten Island judge ruled he wouldn’t release the grand jury minutes, and about four months later a panel of appellate court judges voted to uphold that decision.

Federal case

Federal prosecutors started presenting evidence to a grand jury in February 2016 in an effort to determine whether or not Eric Garner’s civil rights were violated.

In October, a new team at the Justice Department was assigned to the investigation into Garner's death, according to a New York Times report. The new team of agents could potentially jump-start the case that has been stalled up until now, officials told the Times.

Federal prosecutors and FBI officials were against charging Pantaleo, while the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department argued the opposite, the paper reported. Recently, the FBI agents who have been investigating the case were replaced with agents from outside New York, and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are no longer assigned to the case, according to the paper.

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